We were given the opportunity of a brief look around the coach renovation shed at Bewdley. Normally off-limits to visitors, this gave us a rare opportunity to see what could be done to an old coach to restore it to it's former glory, and to preserve it for future generations. Inside the coach shed was a GWR compartment third coach, manufactured circa 1938, approximately 54 feet in length, stripped down to bare metal, with white filler in places, being prepared for re-painting.
We were introduced to an experienced full time member of staff, Mr. Colin Astbury, responsible for the restoration of this coach, who gave us an insight into what they were doing, and encouraged to ask questions. This is a transcript of a recording made during the visit.
"This is one of the coaches that has been running earlier this year, and has been taken out of service for refurbishment because it's got that tatty; it's an embarrassment. I'm not sure whether the train that it's from, you'll be able to see today. That's at Kidderminster somewhere, but the rest of the coaches out of this train are in the carriage shed there, so you might be able to see them. We've done four of them, so four look nice and the other four look terrible. So this is number five tidy".
"The problem we have is because they have been left outside in the elements for the last 30 years, they have deteriorated faster than we can save them. We have two paint shops, one here and one at Kidderminster, and they have most of their original restoration done at Bridgnorth. But most of the work that is being done is not enough to keep pace with the deterioration, so the railway has built a big carriage shed with Lottery money. You can see that as you go into Kidderminster. This building is a fifth of a mile long and we can get 56 coaches in it. When we get them in good condition, provided we can put those we're not using in there over winter, they'll stay in good enough condition; if we keep painting them, standards will keep improving until we have complete rakes of coaches that are good."
"You don't see the rust coming back?"
"No. The panels are galvanised, so it's not rusty behind it. The filler or paint drops off because you don't get good adhesion. All the skin on these is galvanised steel."
"So what does the filler cover?"
"Just holes. There is a very deep countersink. If you look at the coach outside under the green sheet, there's no filler on that. The countersink wood screw holds the steel panel on to the wooden framework, and the countersink is actually pressed into the steel. It is quite a large indentation."
"So it's not corrosion you're covering, it's just the damage?"
"Yes. It's just on the body. With the movement of the body, the whole coach flexes, that filler will eventually drop out. When you get expansion, paints crack and water ingresses."
"How long does it take from start to finish?"
"At the paint shop itself, around 2-4 weeks, but this is having a lot more done besides that, because the rain's got in. If the gutter leaks, water will get into the coach. The first thing that goes is the paint off the ceiling and varnish work on the mahogany, leave it too long and the upholstery will start to go, then the plywood in the ceiling will start to deteriorate. We've had to order some more plywood this morning for the ceiling for this one."
"Why have they used fabric for the roof on that one out in the yard, which is particularly bad. The fabric always seems to come off, every time you see one?"
"The roof is tongue and groove board, like floorboards in a house, and there is canvas over the top, and that's painted. One of the problems is that you can't get lead paint. Lead paint is a hazard, you need a licence to buy and use it, so we tend to use white paint which is the nearest colour to lead paint, but the ones in the siding are for a lick of paint. When it's on, the canvas is very successful. You see the Gresley's today, they're all teak and varnished wood. All the roofs on them are canvas. You can get easily 20 years out of canvas, but in a lot of cases with a galvanised steel one, you won't get paint to stay on there for 20 years. A lot of these suffer from a lack of adhesive, plus anything you do to stop metal rusting. Rusting is oxidising; to stop that happening, whatever plate you put on, whether it's chrome plate, galvanising, copper plate; all those things don't oxidise. Things that don't oxidise don't tend to get good adhesion with paint, so it won't rust, but paint will drop off."
"What else needs to be done to this?"
"Water has been getting in, and has done some damage, and unless we get it now, it will get worse and worse. Once you get upholstery wet, it gets a bit mildewed, and people pick at it, until the filling comes out, and if damp gets behind the varnish, the wood starts to laminate. You can't strip and re-varnish. It's easier to replace the ply. It's definitely quicker to do that, in some cases. An interior is quite quick to do, but it takes a long time to varnish it. It's like a stage set, it's very quick. The paint is all applied by brush. People think it's quicker to spray, but if you think about what we would have to mask off, first the top, and then the bottom, because it's two different colours, you'll find it's easier to hand paint."
"Do you do upholstery here?"
"We have volunteers at Bridgnorth who do the upholstery on the two seater ones, like the one you're travelling in, and they'll do armrests. If this coach needed upholstery, we'd send it to an outside contractor. If we wanted the odd armrest or bit of trim, we'd do it, but not the actual recovering."
"It doesn't actually pay dividends unless we do a good job, and unless it's really well stitched and attached to make it look nice, it won't last long. If you see what parents let their kids do, bouncing up and down on everything, they'd soon fall to bits. If they're done well, they usually last fairly well."
